One reason some people support high-speed rail is that it provides an opportunity for all sorts of fact-finding missions, such as this trip to Europe. “High-speed rail is becoming a reality in the U.S.,” says the Transportation Research Board (a part of the National Acadamies, a supposedly private but actually government-funded and government-created group of organizations). So naturally a bunch of These factors play an important role and also have low self esteem because they cannot fully give cheap cialis 20mg what is expected of them as guys. One should be very careful while women viagra australia using Kamagra pills. Just like any other type of sleeping condition like pickwickian syndromeand exploding head syndrome, you need order cheap cialis to consult your doctor about any sleeping issue. Obesity can promote atherosclerosis, and become the reasons of their separation as well. cialis on line australia engineers and other consultants have to go to Europe on a two-week trip to find out how they do it there.
Sadly, for those of you ready to pack your bags, word via email is that the trip has been cancelled. Maybe it’s because the status of American high-speed rail has changed back from “becoming a reality” to “still a fantasy.”
Why go to Europe to look at HSR?
They could have come to the Northeast Corridor to look at shiny Amtrak trains going fast, and to look at their integration with (local) public transportation, they could have visited Washington, Philadelphia and New York City.
On the excellent NewGeography.com site is this recent article by Aaron M. Renn: Let’s Face It, High Speed Rail Is Dead.
I had no idea that the National Academies was “supposedly private.” Government funded, HQ right off the Mall in D.C, most the research is about government funded programs.
The Wiki link says nothing about “private.” Where did this “supposedly private” claim come from?
http://www.nationalacademies.org/about/whoweare.html
“The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world.”
Well, I’ll be damned! That’s news to me.
“The NAS, NAE, IOM, and Research Council…are mandated and funded by Congress and federal agencies.”
“One reason some people support high-speed rail is that it provides an opportunity for all sorts of fact-finding missions, such as this trip to Europe”
Yes, they love going to Europe, and then coming back here and spreading propaganda about how Europe mostly gets around by mass transit, or how cars are rightfully “reviled” as a menace by the enlightened thinkers over there, or they can gleefully speculate about the time when we’ll be paying $8 a gallon and therefore crawling on our hands and knees to the nearest light rail station.
In all of this, they conveniently ignore the fact that most travel in Europe, as is the case most anywhere else, is by car, and the car’s share of travel is increasing.
Metrosucks:
European car travel has declined slightly in its share – from 73.1% in 1995 to 72.4% in 2008. This despite the obvious growing motorization in eastern Europe. Railway and metro rail travel is growing in the major markets – Germany, France, and the UK. The main change though, as in the US, is growth in air travel (+2.0% share in US and 2.1% share in Europe) and resulting shrinking of driving (-1.7% share in US and -0.6% share in Europe) and bus travel (-0.3% share in US and -1.0% share in Europe).
Here are Europe vs. US numbers for mode split
Cars 72.4% vs. 85.0%
Motorcycle 2.4% vs. 0.3%
Bus 8.4% vs. 2.9%
Rail 6.3% vs. 0.4%
Metrorail 1.4% vs. 0.2%
Air 8.6% vs. 11.1%
Sea 0.6% vs. N/A
What does driving less get the Europeans? Well, with 500M inhabitants to our 300M, they have the same number of roadway fatalities, which means their rate of fatality per 1000 people is much lower. They also use just half the oil we do to get around, which means that they can devote more of their personal budgets to other things instead of sending money to the Arabs. Europeans spend 13.5% of annual consumption on transportation and we spend 17.6%. I bet most people would love a couple thousand dollars of extra spending money.
I drive professionally, typically over 50,000 miles per year. A 23% reduction in my driving might save me $1000 or so in a year. The average American doesn’t drive 50,000 miles, however, and a 23% reduction in their driving won’t save them anywhere near “a couple thousand dollars”.
metrosucks:
Driving costs around 40 cents per mile all-in – ownership, financing, taxes, gas, lube oil, tires, brakes, maintenance, insurance, registration, etc. So you are spending $20,000 per year to drive 50,000 miles. A 23% reduction would save you around $4000-5000.
You would obviously not save that much every year because your real transportation spending is punctuated by very large expenditures in the year you buy a new vehicle, and much lower expenditures in every other year. If you drive less, you don’t wear out your vehicle as quickly so you would not need to buy a new vehicle after 3-4 years (150,000 to 200,000 miles for you, which is probably the high end of the typical range a vehicle gets replaced in).
US household consumption data is shown here. The typical household spends $50,000 per year, including $8,000 on transportation.
http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxann09.pdf
Andrew:
Though I will let pass your user statistics for the time being, I can’t let this statement go by.
They also use just half the oil we do to get around, which means that they can devote more of their personal budgets to other things instead of sending money to the Arabs.
Of course, they pay approximately double what we pay for gasoline (about $8 gallon in London), so devoting their “personal” budgets to anything you mentioned is out of the question. How, exactly, would you have supposed that Europe funds its transport system?
And, no, I don’t find that a lower usage of fuel is, in any way, something to admire or to be envious of.
What does driving less get the Europeans? Well, with 500M inhabitants to our 300M, they have the same number of roadway fatalities, which means their rate of fatality per 1000 people is much lower.
They also have lower incomes, which predicts lower vehicle ownership and which explains much of the disparity you describe.
But planners conveniently leave that tidbit out when comparing Europe to the US, of course.